LA Times Hero Complex - Mark Hamill: Actor talks ‘Kingsman’ cameo, ‘Star Wars’ anticipation
...
HC: 2015 is really shaping up to be quite a year for you — first, “Kingsman,” you’re reprising your role as the Trickster for the CW’s “The Flash.” And then, of course, there’s “The Force Awakens.”
MH: I’m just a working stiff. I’ve been plugging away. Sometimes you wish, especially when I was on Broadway, people would take more notice, but it ebbs and it flows. What’s been fun about what’s been happening recently is how unexpected all of this is. I thought even if they make another trilogy they’re not going to use Luke and Leia and Han, it will be about the new generation. I’m still stunned. I did it and I still can’t believe it happened. Trickster, same thing. I was thrilled they used John Wesley Shipp – he’s a wonderful actor with a mantle full of Emmys to prove it. The fact that they’ve acknowledged the past and had him play Barry’s father was one of the reasons I tuned in. I’m a hopeless comic book nerd, so I would have watched anyway. I was watching the show, my daughter Chelsea’s a fan, so when they called and asked me to be on it I was assuming I’d play a contemporary of John’s, who knows? A university professor like in “Kingsman,” I didn’t know.
When they said the Trickster, I just had to laugh. I think they’re really smart the way they’ve handled this show, balancing between reality and the fantasy. I said, “I don’t want it to be age inappropriate.” What looked good 20 years ago might look foolish at my age, running around. But wait until you see what they’ve done. There’s a new Trickster, Devon Graye, it’s just a knockout performance by this kid. I didn’t really see what he was doing with the role until the very last day … when he confesses his devotion to the original Trickster and how much I’d meant to him, he’d just moved me deeply. It’s just naked emotion and I was stunned.
HC: Are you being approached more often these days by excited “Star Wars” fans eager to discuss “The Force Awakens”?
MH: Occasionally you’ll meet fans that feel the way I did when I met George Harrison. You just feel like if you open your mouth you’re going to lose it. You’re re-reminded of the impact that it had on some people. It had a beginning, a middle and an end for me. It was nice, but it was over. I didn’t have a problem with the prequels because it was like they’re playing with my toys but I’m not in the rec room anymore. I’ve moved out of the house. I didn’t feel possessive of it in any way, shape or form. The same when they were planning this third set of stories. I would have been completely OK with it not including us, but I do think having the original cast members there gives it a sense of continuity and scope. But mind you, it’s really about the new generation, it’s not about us.
HC: The first day you were back on set playing Luke Skywalker once more must have been incredibly surreal.
MH: Oh, my God! It’s just crazy town. First of all, the security. We had problems before with people leaking stuff, but I was saying to them, “Is it really necessary to put on this giant robe with a hood that hangs down to your chest to go from my trailer to the soundstage?” They said, “Drones.” I said, “You’re kidding! Really?”… I wish people would just relax. We’re not trying to play games with people. We just want to maximize their experience at the movies where it should be seen and not have it leaked over the Internet. Believe me, it will be here before you know it. Forget about it, that’s my advice. Look forward to all the summer movies. I’m telling you, it’s just a movie. These people that build it up in their minds like it’s going to be the second coming of, I don’t know what — they’re bound to be disappointed.
It’s exciting from the standpoint that it’s the first of the movies in that universe that’s conceived and directed by the fan generation. We’ve never had that before. Now, Larry Kasdan is one of the old-timers like us, but the captain of the ship is J.J. Abrams and he was a fan of the series, which I find very interesting. They’re going to have an input into how things are done in a way that was impossible in the more autonomous period of George’s [Lucas] reign. I hope it’s a hit!